"It is very bad for the State to interfere in the management of private companies," Bernard Arnault told senators.

Bernard Arnault 's major speech was eagerly awaited. This Wednesday, the CEO of luxury giant LVMH spoke before the Senate inquiry committee on state aid to large companies. This was an unusual opportunity for the businessman, who had not appeared before Parliament since January 2022. Facing the senators, the head of the world's leading luxury group staunchly defended his business model, his investments in France, and his fiscal patriotism.

From the outset, the tone is set. Bernard Arnault refers to a front page of the newspaper L'Humanité - of which Fabien Gay, the commission's rapporteur, is director - which stated that the luxury sector was "cutting jobs" . The boss said he was "a little shocked" before asking: "Why did your newspaper run a headline with something that is false?" After defending press freedom, Fabien Gay attacked him: "We had a lot of trouble getting you to come. If you want us to communicate on this, I'm not sure it would be to your advantage."

The hearing, the last scheduled within the framework of this commission, comes in a tense context, as announcements of job protection plans multiply and some elected officials, like the general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet, call for "making aid to businesses conditional" , in particular on the prohibition of dismissals.

Bernard Arnault, for his part, prefers to praise the economic virtues of his group: "LVMH is a group that invests a lot in France and the rest of the world." In France, the group has invested "€3.5 billion" in 2023 and "more than €1.5 billion" in 2024, he argued, before highlighting its results on the employment front: "We have 40,000 employees in France. LVMH has consistently been at the top of the recruiting list for several years."

The group also defended itself on the grounds of the subsidies it receives: "For the 2023 financial year, the group's total tax contribution in France is nearly 4 billion euros," stressed the group's deputy financial director, Cécile Cabanis. This is a net expense well above the "64.5 million euros in tax credits" received. LVMH, she claims, is investing massively in France, to the tune of 3.9 billion euros that year. The luxury boss also made a point of pointing out that his group "participated in the reconstruction of Notre-Dame without resorting to the patronage law," which allows for tax deductions.

But the sensitive issue of tax optimization was quick to arise. Rapporteur Fabien Gay cites the Court of Auditors and mentions the numerous subsidiaries held by CAC 40 companies in tax havens. "I would like to completely oppose what has been said in a number of newspapers," retorts Bernard Arnault. "Must we, in order to avoid tax optimization, close our subsidiary in Panama?" Before hammering home: "Our group is probably the most patriotic of all the CAC 40 companies. We are also the one that pays by far the most taxes in France, while having only 8% of our turnover in France." The business leader also took the opportunity to denounce "the sudden 40% increase in taxes on profits declared in France," which he describes as "barely believable."

On the burning issue of job cuts, particularly the 1,200 positions targeted at Moët Hennessy, Bernard Arnault tempers: "We have a moral responsibility not to make redundancies, but we cannot be forced to keep the same number of jobs when the economy is difficult." A reality that distinguishes the business world from the administration, according to the boss, "and I have a few words to say on this subject."

Asked about Emmanuel Macron's call for French companies to suspend their investments in the United States after the announcement of the tariffs, Bernard Arnault replied that he did not want to "stop the expansion and establishment" of LVMH, which "already existed" across the Atlantic. "The world's largest market for us is the United States," he stressed. "I believe it is very bad for the State to interfere in the management of private companies. In general, it leads to disaster," added the CEO. He also regrets that the trade agreement between the EU and Washington is "off to a bad start" and calls for an "amicable" resolution. "We must negotiate, as the English did, with reciprocal concessions. If we threaten [Donald Trump], we will have the opposite result," warned the businessman.